Hi, I’m M, here AT Tule I’m your resident dog cozy mystery author and crazy dog lady in general.
I’m also a lot like Leslie Knope in that gift-giving is like a sport for me. I love the thrill of finding the perfect gift for everyone.
And, yes, this includes my dogs.
So, I wanted to help out my fellow dog parents with some holiday gift suggestions for their fur babies!
For a little something special – Gourmet Dog Treats – We’ve special ordered ours from local bakeries, used Chewy, and even ordered from Amazon. If you’re going to a friend’s house and know they are a dog lover, they’re the perfect gift to bring for the host. (Fun fact, this is also what I suggested to my mom to give as a gift for a dog wedding. YEP the dog wedding that inspired A Poodle Perplexity.) https://amzn.to/48h72bi
For your playful dog, or one you need to keep distracted – The Nylon Treat Pod- Every single one of my dogs, family dogs, and foster dogs has loved this thing. You can put treats inside of the little nylon pods and they have to really lick and chew to get them out. They even love this bone without treats in it (as soon in pictures) https://amzn.to/4dY8osL
For those who want a new tradition – Books- A few years back we started getting matching family pajamas and books every year on Christmas Eve. And who am I to leave the dogs out? Luckily they have dog toy books that you can stuff with treats! Perfect to go with those matching pajamas! https://amzn.to/40aMwHv
For the sentimental bunch – Matching pajamas for you and your dog – Now my dogs, personally hated this, but to be fair, one is a rescue and is scared of everything. Even the matching pajamas my mom got us for Christmas. But I have to admit, they’re adorable. https://amzn.to/3NDbTdy
For the pampered pooch – A new dog bed – We’ve gone through a lot of dog beds in the Alfano house, mainly because we’ve had puppies, fosters, and just furry dogs! So what better way to spoil your dog than a new bed for them to camp out in, while you read in your comfy chair? (One with a removable cover is also great) https://amzn.to/3NDcrA8
M. Alfano is a crazy dog lady from a small town in Texas. When not writing cozy mysteries you can find her as the substitute elementary school music teacher or writing contemporary romance under Magan Vernon.
HERE at the Westemeier house, we head to church on Christmas Eve and we spend Christmas day lounging in our sweatpants. I hate missing any of the fun playing games, watching movies, and dancing to the playlist streaming on the speaker, so I designed our menu to keep me out of the kitchen. With three adult sons and a husband all over six feet tall, you better believe I need to set out a spread, and that’s where this favorite soup recipe saves the holiday!
Soup is good food, and it’s especially satisfying when eaten with friends and family. Slow Cooker Ham and Potato Soup is a wonderful way to use up leftover holiday ham without putting too much pressure on the kitchen staff (usually just me). Paired with a loaf of crusty bread and sliced apples, cheese (because HERE in Wisconsin, it’s a food group on its own) and Christmas cookies, Slow Cooker Ham and Potato Soup satisfies even the hungriest dinner guest. We can dip into the crock pot whenever hunger hits, and this recipe makes enough to serve any visitors who might come to our door.
Except for the potatoes, the soup’s ingredients can be prepped the night before, and it doesn’t take more than twenty minutes to produce this hearty main course. I love the options for cooking time, too. Best of all, nearly every ingredient in this recipe has a long shelf life, making the cook’s life even easier!
Just as my family gathers HERE for holidays, the residents at The Abbey: Senior Living in my Nun the Wiser Mysteries enjoy a communal meal together in the old sanctuary now appropriated as a dining room. The cooks prepare Slow Cooker Ham and Potato Soup for the residents to satisfy their hunger and warm them up on a cold day.
And after the party’s over, what’s cozier than a bowl of soup, a cup of cocoa, and a cozy murder mystery by any of these fine Tule authors while you’re snuggled up in your favorite chair? Sounds like the perfect ending to a holiday celebration!
Melissa Westemeier grew up around the edge of nerd culture, but marriage and motherhood with three sons immersed her in it. She’s fluent in Marvel, DC, Dr. Who, Star Wars, Godzilla, and more thanks to their influence. Her fiction work includes rom-com and a trilogy loosely based on her experience tending bar on the Wolf River in Wisconsin. She’s thrilled to realize her childhood dream of writing murder mysteries. Her books blend her humor and appreciation for nerd culture while tackling serious themes and unpacking the puzzle of whodunnit (and how and why!). In her spare time, Melissa needs to be outside or near a window. Her passions include hiking, swimming, biking, reading, and fantasizing about her next vacation destination.
Happy Holidays, EVERYONE! I hope you’re having a chance to spend time with those close to you. As I sit down to write this post, the weather is chilly, damp, and dark. In other words, typical for Central Indiana this time of year. Not exactly conditions that are conducive to merriment, know what I mean?
That got me thinking. What if I took a page from Elmo Simpson, the amateur sleuth and namesake of my Tule mystery series? Elmo left Indianapolis, and after taking a rather winding path, settled down in the fictional town of Paradise Springs, in the real-life Florida Panhandle.
Would I move to a tropical locale? I would absolutely love to! As long as I don’t find myself being asked to solve a murder mystery. I’ll leave that to the experts. Would my life be different? I’m sure it would, including how I’d celebrate the holiday season.
First, the decorations would be different. Currently, our Christmas tree is an artificial white pine. If I lived in the tropics, I’d replace that by decorating a palm tree. Something like this, perhaps.
Yeah, that would get the tropical holiday vibes started.
What about decorations for my new domicile? My wife and I currently have four plastic crates that we store our ornaments, figurines, and other festive items in. I certainly wouldn’t abandon all of those items. Memories, after all.
I’d prioritize the placement of these two statuettes, though
I mean, my author friends don’t call me The Flamingo Kid for nothing! By the way, the flamingo on the right was a gift from one of my sisters, so my family supports my tropical madness dreams.
Once the tree and the house are decorated, I’ll turn my attention to music. Holiday music, from the classics delivered by Nat King Cole and Bing Crosby to more recent deliveries from the Brian Setzer Orchestra, is played a lot during the final few weeks of December. Not much of that would change, though, I’d add a lot more Jimmy Buffett. He has two Christmas albums, “Christmas Island” and “’Tis the SeaSon.” If you haven’t listened to them, do yourself a favor and do it soon. You’ll be glad you did.
Last, but not least, food. You aren’t fully embracing the holidays if you don’t partake in at least a little bit of feasting, right? I think I’d go with something like this mofongo dish. For those who aren’t familiar with it, mofongo is a traditional Puerto Rican dish made of mashed plantains and mixed with pork or other meats. Doesn’t it look amazing?
So, let’s see. I’ve got the tree and home decorated. I’ve got music playing. The holiday meal is ready. I think that means it’s time to celebrate the season in tropical style.
How about you? Would you like to celebrate the holidays in a different part of the world? If so, where and how would you do it? Let me know in the comments. Until next time, cheers!
J.C. Kenney is the bestselling author of The Allie Cobb Mysteries, The Darcy Gaughan Mysteries, and The Elmo Simpson Mysteries. He’s also the co-host of The Bookish Hour webcast. When he’s not writing, you can find him following IndyCar racing or listening to music. He has two grown children and lives in Indianapolis with his wife and a cat.
My mom died when I was in my early twenties, leaving an impossible void in our lives. Of course, no one could replace her, but my grandmother became a surrogate mother to my brother and me.
Even though we lived about 1,200 miles apart, we spoke almost daily. She was my confidant, my example, and a fountain of sage advice. She meant the world to me.
She tried to visit for holidays as often as she could, but when she couldn’t, she would send a box of her homemade Christmas candy and cookies. It was so exciting when the box arrived – always well before Christmas, which meant not only did she make and package the goodies far enough in advance to accomplish this, but she also got the package to the post office in plenty of time for us to enjoy the treats in the weeks leading up to Christmas.
The box, always addressed in her beautiful handwriting, would be packed with holiday tins, each one containing a batch of one of delicious confections FROM her kitchen: 7-Layer cookies; divinity; chocolate peanut clusters; peanut brittle; chocolate fudge; and peanut butter fudge.
Like all earth angels, she was only on loan to us. We lost her several years ago, but I keep her memory alive by cooking her recipes – especially her Christmas candy. Often, I work her recipes into my books. There’s a lot of my grandmother in the treats that Tess creates at the Briar Patch Bakery in the Wedding Bell Mysteries series.
Here are her recipes for 7-Layer Cookies and Peanut Clusters. They’re in her own words – not necessarily in conventional recipe format, but they’re just as she sent them to me. I can hear her voice as I read them.
Merry Christmas and happy holidays, my friends!
MY GRANDMOTHER’S 7-LAYER COOKIES
Melt 1 stick of butter in a 9 x 13 pan.
Sprinkle graham cracker crumbs over the butter (about one cup or so)
Next sprinkle a 12 oz. package of butterscotch chips over the graham cracker crumbs, then sprinkle a 12 oz package of chocolate chips
Then sprinkle some angel flake coconut over the top of the chips.
You can add 1 cup of chopped nuts if you like. I use pecans.
Drizzle 1 can Eagle Band sweetened condensed milk over the top of everything. (see my note below and make sure you don’t use evaporated milk – that won’t taste very good. It has to be sweetened condensed milk. I like the Eagle Brand.)
Preheat the oven to 350 and bake until it begins to brown a little around the edges and bubbles a little. You just need to let the chips melt. Let it cool before trying to cut it into small squares.
* Note about the Eagle Brand milk – I found out that if you put the Eagle Brand milk in a pan of hot water while you’re getting the rest of the ingredients ready, it will be easier to drizzle. Otherwise, it is so thick it is hard to get out of the can. Be sure the can is unopened when you put it in the hot water. Don’t open it until it’s heated and you are ready to pour it. The first time I tried that, I opened the can first and got some water in the milk and I had to throw it out and start over. Be very careful not to burn yourself when you take the can out of the water and open the can. Use tongs and pot holders.
MY GRANDMOTHER’S PEANUT CLUSTERS
12 oz. chocolate chips
3/4 package almond bark *see note
Large jar dry roasted peanuts (unsalted)
Melt chips and almond bark in a double boiler.
Add peanuts and mix well. Put tablespoons full on a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper. Let them set up before you try to remove them from the cookie sheet.
* I found out that it is too much if you use the whole package of almond bark. I made a smaller batch with some cashew nuts and the leftover bark, and it was so good! But I know you’re partial to the peanut variety.
Award-winning author Nancy Robards Thompson has worked as a newspaper reporter, television show stand-in, production and casting assistant for movies, and in fashion and public relations. She started writing fiction seriously in 1997. Five years and four completed manuscripts later, she won the Romance Writers of America’s Golden Heart award for unpublished writers and sold her first book the following year. Since then, Nancy has sold 30 books and found her calling doing what she loves most – writing romance and women’s fiction full-time.
Yep, you read that right. We are hosting our largest giveaway yet and it’s super simple to win.
We have had several of Tule’s Cozy authors write blog posts starting on the 13th and ending on the 24th. Each blog post will contain one hidden word, all you have to do is follow along every day to find all 12 hidden words. Once you do, send us the secret message!
All blog posts will be released at 5am.
Winner(s) will receive: 1st place – a digital copy of all 12 books, 2nd place – winners choice of 6 books, 3rd place – winners choice of 1 of the 12 books.*
